1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a green tire inserting apparatus for mounting a green tire to upper and lower metal molds in a tire vulcanizing machine.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In general, a tire vulcanizing machine is composed of an upper metal mold and a lower metal mold disposed in a manner relatively movable in the vertical direction, and a center mechanism having a bladder or the like and disposed in the aforementioned lower metal mold.
In the case where a green tire is to be inserted into upper and lower metal mold bead ring portions in a vulcanizing machine centered correctly, in the prior art the green tire was transferred to the position of the metal molds by means of a loader and the above-mentioned green tire was made to fit to the upper metal mold bead ring portion or to the lower metal mold bead ring portion.
According to the technique in the prior art as described above, a green tire bead portion and a metal mold bead ring portion on only one side, upper or lower, are fitted to each other, and a bead portion of the green tire on the other side cannot be fitted correctly to the metal mold bead ring portion. Consequently, it is doubtful whether or not the bead portions of the green tire can be inserted correctly into the bead portions of the metal molds, and when a green tire is inserted into upper and lower metal molds in a vulcanizing machine, sometimes bead portions of a green tire would be forcibly pushed into the upper and lower metal mold bead rings by means of a bladder of the like. In the event that the green tire bead portions were not inserted correctly into the metal mold bead rings in the above-described manner, the quality of the completed tire would be poor.
Also, if a green tire was deformed before it was transferred by means of a loader, since means for shaping a bead of a green tire into a true circle were not provided, the bead could not be fitted correctly to the metal mold bead portion, and this adversely affected the uniformity of a tire after vulcanization.